


Stretch Marks

by MarvelMaree



Category: Black Panther (2018)
Genre: F/M, body image issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 12:17:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17022477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarvelMaree/pseuds/MarvelMaree





	Stretch Marks

You grew up hating your stretch marks, never seeing any beauty in them. You grew up hating how no one else seemed to have them. You grew up comparing yourself to the models in every magazine, thin and beautiful. Everything you thought you weren’t.

You wanted to be noticed, but being the fat friend, that didn’t happen. Every guy you had met was never interested in you, always going for your friends, so you settled on living in the background. That is, until you met him.

You were out with your friends, and you were content with getting, as they say, White Girl Wasted. It had been a rough week in school, the worst week you’d experienced in a while and you were just happy to finally let loose for a while.

You were happily sipping on your long island laughing with your friends when you first noticed him. He was standing off to the side watching you and your friends and you tried not to tip him off that you knew he was watching, so you tried to ignore him.

Finishing your drink, you headed back towards the bar for another one when he approached you. He bought you a drink and spent the rest of the night with you drinking and dancing. Before the night was over the two of you exchanged numbers and he gave you a kiss on the cheek. The next morning you woke up to a text from him saying that if you were up for it, he would love to see you later on. You smiled and debated whether you should respond or not before you threw caution to the wind and accepted his invitation. Something that turned out to be one of the best decisions of your life.

* * *

Three years later, you were standing in front of your floor-length mirror scrutinizing yourself. Something you hadn’t done in a while, but just one wrong glance in the mirror threatened to knock your self-esteem down a peg or three. As you stared, you took in every imperfection with a frown. Your stretch marks were your biggest problem. You twisted and turned to scrutinize every angle of your body. You were so deep in your thoughts, that you didn’t notice Erik’s reflection in the mirror.

He watched as you stared at your reflection, and as you rubbed at your stretch marks as if that would make them go away. Erik knew about your body image issues, and he tried his best to help you through them.

“Y/N?” Erik’s voice made you snap your eyes to him in the mirror.

“How long have you been standing there, Erik?” you asked as he walked towards you.

“Long enough,” he responded as he stood behind you. “What’s going on, ma? What’s got you doubting yourself again?” he wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you against him.

You shrugged and tried to pull away from his embrace, but he just held onto you tighter.

“Talk to me, tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.” His voice was soft as he maintained eye contact with you in the mirror. You face heated up at the way he was looking at you and you dropped his gaze. The two of you stood there for many minutes as he held you before you managed to find your voice again.

“I swear everything was fine, E, but I don’t know what happened. I just,” you let out a deep sigh. “I just hate these fucking stretch marks.” Your eyes zeroed in on the stretch marks that lined your stomach and Erik let you fixate on them for a few seconds before he gently turned you around to face him.

“Y/N, you are beautiful,” he began. “And I know you don’t believe me right now, but you are, and I love you.” He placed a kiss on your forehead before he pulled you away from the mirror and into your bedroom. The two of you laid on your shared bed facing each other and he wrapped his arms around you.

He held onto you, and as your breathing slowed down, he whispered, “I’ll love you even when you can’t love yourself.”


End file.
